The Top Five Marijuana Websites On The Internet By Traffic Volume
I have read many, many ‘top marijuana website’ lists over the years. Some are ranked by estimated revenue, some are purely subjective, and others have a combination of measurement that includes subjective and objective elements. A lot of the websites on the lists aren’t actually at the top, or near the top, of any measurable category, and I always wonder if they paid to get on the list, or if the person that made the list was just listing their favorites. This of course is fine, anyone can make their own list for any reason they see fit and I’m fine with that. But the purpose of this article is to list the top five marijuana websites on the internet by volume of traffic.
When determining which websites made the list, I looked at Alexa.Com for each website’s ‘Alexa rank.’ People can say what they want about how Alexa ranks their own particular site, but the fact is Alexa is considered by most to be the industry standard when comparing one website to another. I don’t consider their numbers for one particular site to be that accurate as far as their estimation traffic. I know that from comparing their numbers to the Google Analytics numbers for my own site (which you can always see on our sidebar at anytime). However, the way Alexa.Com measures a site is the same for every site, so the rules apply equally. If I look at a website’s Alexa rank and it’s less than/greater than that of this blog, it’s safe to say that site gets less/more traffic. Other sites don’t post their Google Analytics on their sidebar, so how much actual traffic they get is tough to say. But if you look at their Alexa rank and it’s higher or lower than ours, you get an idea of how much traffic they might get.
I have been asked by many marijuana sites to remove the Google stats from our sidebar for this very reason, because they tell people in the industry or in the media about their stats, and our sidebar exposes their inflated numbers. I prefer to leave the stats up for everyone to see because if someone is going to invest money into a website, or decide which website to advertise their product or service on, they should get good information. It’s better for the industry as a whole, because there are a lot of eyeballs on the industry right now, and things need to be done ethically and correctly. I don’t have anything to hide, and neither should anyone else that runs a marijuana website. I don’t have any monetary incentive to alter this list, because after all, I have made next to no money blogging up to this point, especially when you consider how much time I’ve put into it. I put in time to this website to help reform, not to line my pockets, proven by the fact that I work in a cubicle full time, which I’m sure is something my valued readers can relate to and appreciate!
Something worth pointing out is how to interpret Alexa ranks. The Alexa rank is on a scale from the number one website on the planet to lower websites that get such little traffic, they don’t even return data. So for instance Google is the number one website on the internet right now, and Facebook is the number two website on the internet right now. NFL.com is the 88th top website in America, and the 638th top website on the entire internet, which demonstrates that Alexa gives one rank for the overall internet, and even breaks it down by country. Something else worth explaining is how traffic volume and Alexa rank are related as a website climbs the charts. To go from a United States rank of 8,000 to 4,000 is exponentially harder than going from 100,000 to 50,000. Just as it’s even harder to go from 100 to 50. For people that like math, I hope that made sense. For those that don’t like math, my apologies :) With no further delay, below are the top five marijuana websites according to Alexa.Com, ranked by volume of traffic as of this writing. Alexa ranks change pretty much daily, so these numbers will no doubt change as of this writing, but I’ve tracked all of these ranks almost daily for the last few years, and the same names are pretty much always on the list with varying positions on the list as traffic fluctuates. They are in order of overall rank, but also include the United States rank for those that are interested, as the order is different for United States ranking. If you find one that you think should have been on the list but isn’t, feel free to e-mail me, as it’s my desire to have this list as accurate as possible:
1. GrassCity.Com – 8,998 overall rank, 2,817 in the United States
2. Hightimes.Com – 13,943 overall rank, 4,472 in the United States
3. TheWeedBlog.Com – 15,856 overall rank, 3,859 in the United States
4. Weedmaps.Com – 17,251 overall rank, 3,325 in the United States
5. Leafly.Com – 19,460 overall rank, 4,519 in the United States
